Thread: Unsustainable Population Explosion Trumps All Else

Unsustainable Population Explosion Trumps All Else

By Frosty Wooldridge
11-10-11

The American people, as they watched the 7th billion human land on Earth on October 31, 2011, still don't understand their own predicament. America continues on a course of adding another 100 million people after the last 100 million added in the last 40 years. It's ironic that Americans continue to avoid, evade and ignore the population issue facing this country.

Dr. Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb, said, "All causes are lost causes without limiting human population."

While many scoff at his projections, real life consequences manifest all over the world such as Somalia, India and Mexico. Even China cannot feed its humongous population without importing vast tonnages of grains. The same goes for Egypt. In the end, it's all about feeding 7 billion people-too many, too hungry, too much, too little water, too little resources, too little food. If we think the "Green Revolution" will save us, think again.

The green revolution was instigated as a result of the efforts of Norman Borlaug, who, hile accepting the Nobel peace prize in 1970, said: "The green revolution has won a temporary success in man's war against hunger and deprivation; it has given man a breathing space. If fully implemented, the revolution can provide sufficient food for sustenance during the next three decades. But the frightening power of human reproduction must also be curbed; otherwise the success of the green revolution will be ephemeral only."

While the United States stabilized its population in 1970, it has imported 100 million immigrants in the past 40 years and is on course to add another 100 million within 25 years. As we watch the world accelerate its population, plenty of symptoms express themselves daily. But no national or world leader understand humanity's dilemma nor will they address it. It's a form of mass denial.

In a recent paper, Anne Ehrlich and Ellen Harte spoke about the harsh reality of our human denial of our future population consequences.

"Think back on what you talked about with friends and family at your last gathering," said Ehrlich and Harte. "The latest game of your favorite team? "American Idol"? An addictive hobby? The new movie blockbuster? In a serious moment, maybe job prospects, Afghanistan, the economic mess? We live in an information-drenched environment, one in which sports and favorite programs are just a click away. And the ease with which we can do this allows us to focus on mostly comforting subjects that divert our attention from increasingly real, long-term problems.

"Notice that we didn't mention climate change above, or the exploding population/consumption levels that are triggering it -- the two major factors threatening humanity's future. Sure, if you're not too far from the Western wildfires or Midwestern floodplains, the conversation might have turned to the crazy weather that is finally forcing some media to actually talk about climate change in the context of daily events."

But population? Get out. Way too inconvenient a truth.

"Take National Public Radio, for example," said Ehrlich. "Of NPR's sparse record of population pieces, just one or two actually address unsustainable population growth. But as the political right whittles away at family planning clinics across the nation, the latest NPR series, "The Baby Project," devotes a plethora of articles to pregnancy, with the most serious subjects the problems some women have conceiving and birthing. If there is even a hint of too many babies, it is well hidden. This, even though a 2009 NPR story on U.S. pregnancies reported that half -- yes, half -- of all U.S. pregnancies are unintended. That's a lot of unintended consumers adding to our future climate change.

"And that's what the right calls the "liberal" side of the mass media. The politically conservative U.S. mass media cover unsustainable population levels even less. That pretty much reflects the appalling state of U.S. public education today on population issues. The U.S. approach across all levels of government, in terms of such things as education, attacks on family planning and tax deductions for children, is an exercise in thoughtlessness. The ramifications, however, are far more insidious and brutal.

"Women are culturally conditioned daily to welcome the idea of having children -- plural, not one or none. How to support those children economically is not discussed. Indeed, our abysmal lack of adolescent sex educational programs ensures there will be plenty of young women who secure their destinies, and those of their babies, to brutal poverty and shortened lives through unwanted pregnancies and lack of choice. The latest available statistics from the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan tell the story: 1 in 5 American children lived in poverty in 2008; 1 in 3 if they were black or Latino.

"Sure, there's much talk and concern that birthrates are down and will result in not enough workers to support the elderly. But this argument is overblown; after all, a 70-year-old can be more economically productive than a 7-year-old. And a large, pre-working population inflicts costs on a society. Furthermore, the birthrates in developing nations remain high, and the consequences affect us all."

MORE PEOPLE CAUSES MORE ENVIRONMENTAL BREAKDOWN

"Globally, the effects of overpopulation play a part in practically every daily report of mass human calamity, but the word "population" is rarely mentioned," said Ehrlich. "Wildfires threaten ever more people because expanding populations are moving nearer and into forests. Floods inundate more homes as populations expand into floodplains. Such extreme events are stoked by climate change, fueled by increasing carbon emissions from an expanding global population.

"Overpopulation is also fueling desertification and further deforestation around the world. We can dream of drastically decreasing overconsumption by the wealthy, but even realistic potential decreases are voided by sheer human numbers in all countries, rich and poor. Our unsustainable population levels are depleting resources and denying a decent future to our descendants."

"Upwards of two hundred species.. mostly of the large, slow-breeding variety.. are becoming extinct here every day because more and more of the earth's carrying capacity is systematically being converted into human carrying capacity. These species are being burnt out, starved out, and squeezed out of existence.. thanks to technologies that most people, I'm afraid, think of as technologies of peace. I hope it will not be too long before the technologies that support our population explosion begin to be perceived as no less hazardous to the future of life on this planet than the endless production of radioactive wastes." http://www.woopidoo.com/business_quotes ... /index.htm Daniel Quinn

"What to do?" said Harte. "Stop the denial. Perpetual growth is the creed of a cancer cell, not a sustainable human society. Promote and support family planning education at the family and community levels as an inexpensive way to reduce poverty and severe climate change.

"Support organizations that are trying to get contraceptives to the 200 million women throughout the world who lack and want them, and help them obtain equal rights, education and job opportunities. Access to contraceptives and reproductive freedom are rights, not luxuries, that ultimately benefit all of humanity and its future.

"Vote for leaders who vigorously promote those humane solutions. And demand that media start educating the public every day on the role played by the unsustainable human numbers behind environmental degradation and human calamities -- and start covering the solutions. The public needs a constant message: "It's time to stop growing and become sustainable."

"We can do many things to solve environmental, economic and social problems, but each is a lost cause if we cannot bring our populations down to sustainable levels."

"A simple look at the upward path of global greenhouse emissions indicates we will continue to squeeze the trigger on the gun we have put to our own head." Eugene Linden, The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather and the Destruction of Civilization

Anne Ehrlich is the wife of Dr. Paul Ehrlich, author of "The Population Bomb." For more information: Bill Ryerson, http://www.populationmedia.org

http://www.rense.com/general95/unsus.htm

Arent you just the little "bluebird of happiness" See this everyday ,they come here and have as many babies as they possibly can and reap all the benefits that they can ,its very depressing

People of European ancestry are the only group with a less-than-replacement birthrate while all others are breeding faster and faster!

we cant afford to have multiple children,because we cant afford to support them,which is a problem that others dont have! At my pharmacy today a mother age 48,getting a prescription for medicine after having baby # 6,paying with a Medicaid card and the only ID she has is a worthless Matricula card.! It's out of control!!!

We have become 2nd class citizens in a land our ancestors carved out of the wilderness.